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Engeldinger had 1997 arrest on record

Andrew Engeldinger, the man who opened fire on his former co-workers at a Minneapolis company last week, was arrested in 1997 for leading a police officer on a high-speed chase.

Engeldinger, who was 20 years old at the time, was driving with an expired vehicle registration in Bloomington on Jan. 21, 1997 when a police officer in a squad car motioned for him to pull over.

Instead, he accelerated to between 90 and 100 mph, ran a red light, and nearly hit a pedestrian who "dove for the snowbank" to avoid being struck, according to an incident report. He then crashed into a fence next to Highway 62 and was arrested.

Engeldinger told the officer he fled because his license plates were expired and he did not want a ticket, the report said.

"I didn't think you guys could leave your city," the report quotes Engeldinger as saying. "I figured if I made it to Richfield I was okay. But when you kept going, I knew I was in trouble."

Engeldinger was charged with fleeing an officer and reckless driving. He pleaded guilty to reckless driving. The other charge was dismissed. A judge placed Engeldinger on unsupervised probation for a year and ordered him to complete 240 hours of community service.

A search of available court and police records shows Engeldinger was also fined for speeding in Dakota County in 2004.

He has no other known criminal history prior to last Thursday when he killed five people at Accent Signage Systems and committed suicide after being fired from the company.